Days after it was found by a government watchdog to have manipulated Alberta’s electricity market for millions of dollars in profits, TransAlta says it is considering whether to approach the regulator about negotiating a “mutually acceptable” settlement case.

The company — which is also weighing whether to appeal the Alberta Utilities Commission ruling through the courts — acknowledged any settlement it reaches with regulators for the offences from 2010 and 2011 will have to “satisfy Albertans.”

Public mistrust has been a hallmark of Alberta’s electricity market since it was deregulated in 2001 and while in opposition the now-governing New Democrats cited the TransAlta case as an example of how deregulation led to routine price gouging of consumers in the province.

TransAlta has always insisted it followed the rules that existed at the time. Two regulators have now disagreed with that letter-of-the-law approach. A class-action law suit on behalf of customers is coming together.

The exhaustive 217-page ruling from the AUC — there are more than 730 footnotes — supports an earlier decision from Alberta’s Market Surveillance Administrator that found TransAlta shut down four power plants during peak-demand hours to push up prices not due to an immediate need to take them offline.

It was TransAlta which filed the complaint with the commission arguing the MSA hadn’t followed due process in its role monitoring Alberta’s power market. At the time, TransAlta said it was seeking “a fair process and an unbiased regulatory ruling.”

The AUC panel concluded “the MSA carried out its mandate in a fair and reasonable manner.”

Having received the long-awaited ruling, TransAlta chief executive Dawn Farrell said Wednesday that the company is “weighing the pros and cons” of a further appeal.

Farrell acknowledged she was “surprised by the decision” and said TransAlta — which saw it stock close at an all-time low of $8.34 Wednesday on the Toronto Stock Exchange — may seek to negotiate its penalty.

“We are also considering whether to approach the MSA to secure a mutually acceptable settlement of the penalties in relation to the ruling that will satisfy Albertans,” she said in a conference call to discuss the second-quarter results. “We estimate our profits from the actions to have been in the range of $5 million to $1o million, which we would assume would be part of a settlement, if one could be achieved.”

Harry Chandler, administrator of the MSA, has already said the penalty will be significant. The MSA can levy fines of up to $1 million a day per infraction and order ill-gotten profits returned to competitors and customers.

Industry analysts suggest the penalty could be as much as $30 million for the $2.3 billion market-cap company that reported a $131-million loss for the second quarter. TransAlta has run afoul of regulators before. It was fined $370,000 for manipulating Alberta’s power market in 2012 but said it misinterpreted rules it called confusing. It was also fined for unfair pricing in California’s gas and electricity markets in 2000 and 2001.

Farrell said TransAlta changed its practices in 2011 — she was chief operating officer at the time — but in light of the AUC’s ruling will bring in outside consultants to assess its practices around trading compliance and forced outages of its power plants. She expects the review to be completed this year.

The decision whether to take the AUC’s ruling to the Alberta Court of Appeal will be made within 30 days.

The company said one consideration in whether to appeal will be the benefit to industry overall in helping companies better understand Alberta’s evolving power regulations.

“One of the things that really drives us is trying to make sure there is clarity in the decision and in the ruling so that the rules, at least from our perspective as a company, are clear and understandable,” chief legal officer John Kousinioris said. “We think clarity is important for us, for our peers and our competitors and the marketplace generally.”

It’s a magnanimous sentiment but TransAlta appears to be the only one confused.

Farrell made the point the company needed to regain the trust of Albertans following the decision by the AUC but it’s a challenge to see how continuing to fight the matter — and drag it into the legal system — will help earn back support from cynical consumers.

Despite the challenges for coal-fired power generators, Farrell told analysts TransAlta is “positioned to adapt and succeed.”

It’s time for TransAlta to accept the rulings from regulators, ensure business practices are beyond reproach so it doesn’t happen again and get on with the real business of running the company.

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